A lawsuit filed in the Terrebonne Courthouse claims that the Little Caillou
Volunteer Fire Chief severely injured another motorist in a 2010 rear-end
crash. The suit alleges Marty Thibodeaux, responding in a Ford
SUV owned by the fire department, rear-ended a boat trailer pulled by a pickup
truck driven by William Turner of Cocodrie. The wreck caused Turner’s pickup
to “spin out of the southbound lane and come to rest facing northbound on the
center line,” the suit alleges.
Kevin Picou, one of four passengers in
Turner’s truck, “suffered serious, painful, permanent and disabling injuries” to
his neck and knee, the suit says. Chief Thibodeaux, who was responding to a car
wreck in Cocodrie at the time, was not ticketed, though he was responsible for
the wreck, State Police said at the time. Police said the SUV’s emergency lights
were on and Thibodeaux was driving slower than normal due to fog and
rain.
The suit also names the Little Caillou Volunteer Fire District, which
protects Chauvin and part of Cocodrie, and its insurance company.
Picou is
seeking damages for “physical pain and suffering, shock, fear, humiliation,
mental anguish (and) emotional distress,” among other reasons named in the
suit.
Chief Thibodeaux had not been served with the lawsuit as of Tuesday
afternoon, he said, but his insurance company did tell him about it. State
Police said at the time of the wreck that there were no injuries. Chief Thibodeaux
said the crash was minor and “the airbags didn’t deploy” in his SUV. He declined
further comment. Emmett Boudreaux, Picou’s Baton Rouge-based attorney, did
not return a phone call Tuesday afternoon.
